A Happy New Year to all of you who have been or soon will be thinking about the coming season of summer aquatics in BCSSA.  As this is the first issue of the new year, it is also my first opportunity to renew the annual appeal to parents to consider becoming involved with the officiating functions in the aquatic activities of your son or daughter.  I would also like to encourage all of you who already officiate or assist to become more proactive in recruiting new parents to participate in this important role.  From my conversations with other officials as to how they became involved, it is very apparent that the vast majority of our volunteer officials are recruited through the encouragement of friends and acquaintances in their clubs and regions.

There are many reasons for going to that first officials clinic.  You will have an opportunity to learn more about the details of your child's sport.  And you will meet others who have the same interest as you in contributing more directly to the sport itself.  Clinics provide you with the chance to share your opinions and to question the "status quo" as well as become more informed.

With a proper understanding of the rules, you are better able to convey constructive support not only to your own child, but to other participants as well, when they fall short.  As a working official, you become part of the "coaching team" because your role is to ensure fair play and at the same time to provide guidance to those who experience the disappointment of results that do not meet expectations, whether it be a slower time, a game lost, a disqualification, a kick-out, or a poor evaluation from the judges.

By understanding the technical details of a sport, we are better able to reassure competitors that falling short of expectations as we strive to achieve goals that are challenging is what provides meaning and importance to those goals.   It is what makes the achievement of a best time, a win, a highest points accumulation, or any other goal rewarding.  That sense of achievement is enhanced by knowing that such goals were accomplished within "The Rules" as judged by the officials of the sport.

"What about having to disqualify a swimmer?" is the common refrain from parents who are reluctant to become deck officials in swimming.  The answer of course is that no official wishes to disqualify a swimmer, and that's as it should be for it governs our desire to ensure that we be certain about a disqualification before acting on it.  That is why the "first rule of  officiating" is that the "benefit of any doubt goes to the swimmer."  It is also why officials are assigned "zones of responsibility" around the pool deck.  These are but two of the safeguards that one learns about by attending an officials clinic.

Of course when an official observes an infraction of the rules, it is the duty of the official to report the infraction and disqualify the swimmer.  By meeting this responsibility an official performs two important functions:  ensuring that other swimmers are not disadvantaged by a technique or action that provides an unfair benefit, and assisting the swimmer's coach in ensuring that the swimmer is indeed performing the stroke correctly.  A swimmer who is not disqualified for an infraction may achieve an "official result" but has accomplished neither the goal of a time achieved fairly nor of a stroke performed properly.

As parents, it is important that we become more familiar with the technical aspects of our children's sports. Through a better understanding of the rules and with how those rules are applied  we become better able to deal with the stresses every parent  experiences when their child competes.

Gone are the days when most of us can compete with our children in the pool. Yet you all know of examples of other parents, never ourselves, who sometimes forget themselves, and express their competitive instincts in inappropriate ways.  So if you really want to be more involved in your child's sport then your energy and enthusiasm will be valued and rewarded by contributing where there is need - as a volunteer deck official or judge.

So, as a "New Year's resolution" I encourage you to set aside your anxieties about the knowledge you feel you lack,  or the responsibility you may be reluctant to assume, and attend an officials clinic in your region.  Whether you decide to participate as an official at a meet or tournament, and I believe most of you will decide to do so, you will at least have added to your own knowledge of and interest in that activity in the water that you child is so enthusiastic about!

My best wishes to everyone for a successful and enjoyable season of aquatic activities this  year, be it swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming, or diving.